


Two Pesetas

by Arithanas



Category: The Road to El Dorado (2000)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 07:43:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5489189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arithanas/pseuds/Arithanas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every road must start somewhere. On that note, Miguel and Tulio were not the always the hardened con-men the movie show us.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Pesetas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aelin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelin/gifts).



> My gratitude to [mlraven](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mlraven/) for the amazing beta work.

Tulio groaned and put the heavy sack on his shoulders. With effort, he moved the heavy load from the cart to the square, cursing under his breath the cruel fate that made him a simple laborer instead of someone with better chances in life. His back strained under the weight of one whole bushel of wheat.  

The market was full of people, all of them with purses full of maravedis; buying and trading, and none of them spared a glance for Tulio.  There, a round monk was arguing with the baker, a bit further, a lady complaining about lace, and in the corner a minstrel recited the words of his poem. Life was easy for those people. A playful tap on his butt startled Tulio and the bushel on his back almost spilled onto the flagstones.

“Straighten your back out, boy!”  a soldier advised as he passed by; perhaps the same man who had tapped his butt. “You are far too fetching to get a hunch.”

Tulio raised his hands and stabilized the weight on his shoulders. The soldier just kept walking with his peers, talking loudly and laughing a lot, probably at him. Tulio felt the blush rising to his cheeks, and a familiar unrest stirred his crotch.  He always had been partial of soldiers and one just touched his butt. For some reason, the weight on his back seemed a lot lighter.

“Having a good day?” The foreman suggested when Tulio placed the sack among the rest behind the bakery.

“The best.”

“Well, go to the cart and bring another one.”

Tulio suddenly remember what his life was and couldn’t help his lips from pursing. He made his way toward the cart reluctantly. His eyes wandered around, looking at the beautiful dresses and all the pretty things. He wanted it all, but the toil required to get it was far from pleasant. With a sigh, he bent over a  water fountain to take a sip, but just at that moment another person was as well.

“Hey, ow!” The young blond man transitioned from surprise to pain in one breath.

“Hey!” Tulio complained and rubbed his chin, “Oh, sorry!”

“No, no. It’s ok, I’ll survive.”  The man moved his curtain of blond hair away from his big green eyes.

Tulio felt genuinely speechless. Those eyes were deep and shiny; Tulio’s heart leapt in his chest.

“Hey! Hey? Are you alright?”

“Yes. I’m all right. Never better. Do I look bad?” Tulio noticed he was babbling and blushed. “Wait, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” The young man said, and extended his hand in introduction. “Miguel.”

“I’m Tulio.”

“Nice to meet you!”

Tulio noticed Miguel’s voice was warm and cheerful, and he got lost in the touch of those long fingers, even though they were spotted with a sticky substance. An old man called Miguel to his shop and Miguel palmed a hurried gulp of water and ran to the shop before Tulio had time to say anything else. The warmth and excitement lingered for a bit and Tulio reluctantly returned to the cart to fetch another bushel of wheat.

While Tulio was making his way back to the bakery with the load on his shoulder, he noticed a blond head in the luthiery. Miguel, head bowed, was passing the brush over a piece of wood. That explained the gluey fingers, Tulio thought. He smiled to himself and stared for a long time. Eventually, Miguel noticed Tulio’s gaze and jerked his head up in surprise. Tulio immediately straightened out his back and kept walking like the burden on his back was nothing. He would pay dearly for that bravado, but at the time it won him a smile from Miguel, and his world knew no pain for the rest of the day.

Tulio hated hard work, that was a fact, but he kept the work because it provided him with numerous occasions to look at Miguel outside the luthiery while he sanded, painted, and tested the guitars. His long fingers made beautiful music. One day, Tulio couldn’t help it anymore and approached the shop while Miguel was tuning a newly-finished guitar.

“Miguel…”

“Tulio?”

“I was wondering if you like wine?”

Miguel tilted his head and smiled tentatively. It was clear that Miguel didn’t understand the question.

“I mean, would you like to drink wine with me?”

Miguel put the guitar aside and stood up. Tulio was afraid of that moment, because most men could understand that his was not an innocent invitation and their honor demanded that they pound Tulio into shape. Miguel was the exception; he smiled widely and took Tulio’s hand.

“I would love to have a drink,” Miguel said with his habitual cheerfulness, “with you.”

And wine they had, that night and many other. When coins were scarce, they drank water by the fountain. Tulio opened his heart to Miguel and told him many things, most of them trivial. Tulio learned that Miguel didn’t realize  how handsome he was, but he was sure of what he wanted and what he wanted was not inside a luthiery.

They both dreamed, large and beautiful dreams. The best part was that they were doing it together.

They walked the lonely streets after the sun went down, and sometimes they dared to kiss away from the streetlamps’ glow. There were times when they dared even more, and that was how they got acquainted with the darkest alleys in the city. They didn’t care about what people said; they shared what they had, and most of the time those stolen moments were as rare and as precious as Canary plantains.

They never knew how they were discovered. They were surprised by the guards stalking them in their habitual alley so they ran away in blind panic, jumping fences and taking turns to reach the narrower alleys of the city. Tulio cursed his luck and the meddlers who never stop snooping in the lives of others; he never suspected he would end his days hounded down by royal edict.

“We need to reach the church yard,” Miguel said when they stopped to take breath. “We will ask for sanctuary among the thieves.”

“I have a better plan.”

“Let’s hear your plan!

“You need to take the right and run like a madman for the church while I escape from the left to the fields.”

“Right, and then?”

“Then, what?”

“That’s what I am asking.”

“Then you go your way and I will go mine and we will never see each other again.”

“But…”

Tulio shook his head, briefly making reproachful noises.

“Why…?”

Tulio turned around and crossed his arms, refusing to hear another argument.

“At least give me a last hug,” Miguel pleaded and Tulio turned around.

The face he met softened his resolve. Miguel’s eyes were wet and his bottom lip hung and quivered at the same time. Tulio rushed to hug his love, because he couldn’t stand that helpless stare. Miguel hugged him back with the unexpected strength that all those years of shaping wood had given to his body. Tulio ran his fingers through Miguel’s silky hair for the last time, until he noticed Miguel’s strong grip hadn’t lessen a bit.

“Miguel?”

“Yes, Tulio.”

“You need to let me go, if we are to run our different ways…”

“I don’t want to let you go.”

Tulio sighed and let his arms fall. He knew Miguel couldn’t agree to that plan if Tulio himself found it so hard to carry it on.

“Be good, Miguel, we both can’t make it to the church yard.”

“I bet we can.”

“Two pesetas say we can’t.”

“Deal!”

Miguel let him go with that big, goofy grin of his plastered across his face. Even in the half light of the alleyway Tulio noticed Miguel’s happiness, and that melted his heart for a moment. Miguel profited of his brief distraction to grip Tulio’s hand and to run for the alley mouth like a fallow-deer.

Tulio cursed under his breath and followed this mad man he loved for dear life. Their hands clasped firmly together as a challenge to the town, forget that, the whole world if it chose to tear them asunder.

Their slippers barely made any sound in the dark and they covered a good stretch before any of the guards noticed them. Then they really had to run; Miguel’s long strides guided them with the sureness of a man fighting for what he loved.

“Guard!” Tulio warned as soon as he noticed the man in front of the great portico.

“Time to improvise!”

“This is why we needed a plan!”

Miguel turned around and whipped Tulio’s arm to make him move barely in time to avoid one of the guards. Tulio smiled to the man and waved his goodbye, barely believing his own cheek.

“Duck!” Miguel warned Tulio, refusing to stop for a moment. They would have the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell if they dared to stop and think.

Tulio obeyed, mostly because he had no idea of the course that Miguel was steering them towards the church. A big meaty fist flew over Tulio’s head. He hadn’t recovered from the  surprise when  he noticed a compact battery of men was following them. When he turned around to warn Miguel, he noticed an even larger group of men in front of them.

“Miguel!”

“I won’t let them take you!”

There was something infinitely reassuring in Miguel voice. And exciting, on top of that, but they could take care of the inopportune rousing in his crotch if they got free of their tricky situation. At the last moment, Miguel turned left and pushed Tulio into a narrow alleyway between the fences of two houses. Only then did he let go of Tulio’s hand.

Tulio closed his fist, feeling the lingering heat in the palm of his hand. He marveled that he missed Miguel’s hand already. Then, the angry shout of the stout guards struggling to pass through the narrow opening made him turn around in surprise.

Miguel didn’t let Tulio contemplate the probable outcome if the guards reached an agreement of how to get in the alley. With the strength of desperation, Miguel put his right foot on the small of Tulio’s back, his left foot on Tulio’s shoulder and climbed the mortar wall, slipping over the tiles.

“Take my hand,” Miguel pleaded, leaning down to pick up his partner. “We can make it!”

Tulio decided he rather take his chances with Miguel, than with the guards so he held Miguel’s hot hand and tried to climb. His clumsy efforts were helped by Miguel’s pull. Soon they were on top of the tiled roof, balancing precariously; only a tight hug avoided a dreadful fall.

“We made it,” Tulio said, still dazed by the effort.

“Not yet!” Miguel said and started to run for the roof of the next house.

Tulio turned his head just to see the guards were climbing the wall with more success than them, but Miguel didn’t let himself worry. They jump to the tiled roof of the house, clawing their way to the flat, then they kept running without looking back.

“We just need to jump!” Miguel encouraged Tulio.

“Jump?”

Before he could finish the question Miguel leapt over the end of the roof. His hand was clutching Tulio’s hard enough to bruise it. Tulio followed him, and then he noticed the brilliance of his plan: the church yard was at the end of their jump, if they could meet it.

Chances were slim on that front. They were a few feet short by the look of it. With a supreme effort, Miguel pulled Tulio with the last strength of his back, trying to make his friend pass the fence. Tulio passed over Miguel’s head and sensed how Miguel’s hand was slipping his grip and he, frantically, clutched it with both hands.

The cries and insults of the guards followed them as they passed the fence and fell heavily on the soft lawn of the church. Tulio barely could keep in his intense happiness; he jumped and danced and pointed at the guards in celebration.

“Hey!” Miguel called. His hair was a mess, his shirt was open and he was sweating. Tulio was smitten. “You owe me two pesetas.”

Tulio, who was happy beyond himself, made the pantomime of being angry and tossed a couple of coins to Miguel. He would pay so much more for the honor of keeping Miguel by his side.


End file.
